Hatton Bees - Kirkliston

As well as the suit most beekeepers also wear thick gloves made of leather which most bees can't sting through however I'm afraid to say my bees can sting through normal beekeepers gloves so I now wear neoprene fishing gloves which I believe the bees can't scenes the body heat through them they so the bees don't tend to sting there.

I have been stung a few times on my new gloves and so far "touch wood" the gloves have stopped the stinger.

This is one of the most used tools of the beekeeper.
This is used much like a mini crowbar in order to separate the hive parts and to help lift the frames out from either the brood box or the honey supers.

This is used in the same manner as the J-type hive tool but it gives a better leverage if used right.

The Bee Brush is made from very soft bristles which don't harm the bees; it is used to gently brush the bees aside when you're needing access to a particular area.

The brush is also used to brush any straggling bees off the beekeeper once finished at the hive before heading home.

This tool comes in handy when the beekeeper could do with more than two hands which is quite often.

You can hold a frame with one hand using this handy tool; you can also lift the frames out the brood box or supers using it.

Once the bees decide the honey is ready they then seal the cells with a thin layer of wax similar to that used to seal the maggot like bees into their cells from which they will emerge as fully formed bees.

The cells which the honey is stored can remain like this for 1,000s of years without going off provided the wax seal remains intact.

The beekeeper can use several methods in which to remove this coating known as capping's in order to then remove the honey for consumption or to sell.

This is another method of removing the wax capping from the cell in which the bees have stored their honey.

The beekeeper uses it to scrape the surface of the capping's then the frames that contain the sheets of foundation that the bees have built the honeycomb onto is then placed into a specially designed barrel shaped machine that holds various numbers of frames in a specially designed frame which is then sun at high speed this acts like a centrifuge and forces the honey from the honeycomb into the tank where it is then passed through a filter before being bottled ready to eat.

OK technically this is not a tool but since I have been discussing various ways to remove the capping's from the honeycomb I though I would include this anyway.

Once the capping is removed from the honeycomb it can indeed be eaten while still in the cells, indeed this is in many people's eyes the best way to eat your honey.

The wax is edible and you can hardly taste it anyway, trust me honey is delicious eaten this way and it is said to have more medicinal properties eaten this way.

These have a special non- toxic paint that will not harm the Queen when marked.

This clasp is used to safely catch the queen in order that she might be marked or for any other reason the queen needs to be separated from the other bees in the hive.

This cage can be placed over the queen trapping her then gently pushed into the wax frame she is on until she can't move. The beekeeper then uses a queen marking pen to put a dot of brightly coloured non-toxic paint onto the back of her head.

This makes it easier for the beekeeper to find the queen among the other 1000's of bees.

The colour used will also indicate the year in which she hatched.

This is another way the beekeeper can mark the queen.

The caught queen is placed into the tube then the plunger is slowly pressed down until a sponge on the end of the plunger is gently holding the queen against the cage so the beekeeper can mark the queen.

This is how a beekeeper may receive his/her queen, in a special cage along with a few attendant bees as the queen is unable even to feed herself.

They are placed in the hive and a seal is then broken which allows the other bees in the hive to eat through a special candy in order to release her and her attendants.

This will take the bees in the hive 2 or 3 days which allows the bees to get used to the new queens unique smell and they will be unlikely to reject and kill her.

These are a handy little tool that when placed on the outside the honey super or brood box the beekeeper is working on, allows him/her to place up to 5 frames on them. This is very handy when the beekeeper needs a little more space in the hive or to allow him/her to have one or both hands free.